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Carlisle Crown Court heard the incident happened in the car park outside the Falcon social club in Egremont at about 11.30pm on the night of Saturday, July 21.

Mr Allan happened to be passing on his way home from a family party when Griffin came out of the club with a friend.

The family were laughing among themselves, but Griffin thought they were laughing at him – and punched Mr Allan in the face, causing him to fall down and hit his head on the ground.

Mr Allan had to be put into a medically induced coma in hospital, and spent a month off work.

He suffered no permanent damage, prosecutor Becky McGregor said, but was still worried about the traumatic affect the attack had on his daughter and partner, Tracey Wilson, who were both with him when it happened.

Ms McGregor told the court Griffin had been in the club with a friend watching football when they left, planning to go home to their girlfriends for a takeaway.

But as they left the club they encountered Mr Allan and his family, who happened to be walking through the car park.

When he heard the family laughing, she said, he assumed – wrongly – that they were poking fun at him, so he confronted Mr Allan about it.

Mr Allan tried to assure him he was not the butt of their jokes, and went up to Griffin with his hands open in a gesture of conciliation, saying “Just leave it, mate”.